I smell of dust, old books and bluebells. US/UK spellings - yup, that hoary old chestnut again... : comments.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
|||
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18 |
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Too cool for subject
Still, I really wish they wouldn't have changed them at all - talk about a perfect opportunity to get kids to learn about different countries and cultures.
Exactly. I lived in Bermuda for four years as a schoolgirl (late 11 to early 16; Dad was Air Force), and read lots of Enid Blyton and Gerrold Durrell. It was an eye-opening view of new worlds, and I consider it a priceless addition to my education.
What gets me is -- Americans complain about our educational system and that our kids aren't learning enough... and then they allow learning opportunities like books with different idioms (~gasp!~ the horror!) to be dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. But, somehow, they just don't get the connection.
.
Too cool for subject
Probably not a strictly American phenomenon ::g:: -- even if as a country we do it so exceedingly well (and often) -- but so darn stupid. That's one of my major peeves in society / culture / education. (I've been frustrated and appalled by this... stupid... concept since I was in seventh grade and our band instructor refused to let the band try to play any music that the fourth and fifth grade beginning band people couldn't already play. Heaven forfend there would be any chance for the poor unteachable fourth and fifth graders to actually stretch toward learning something *new*! ::breathes deeply and mutters, "I am letting this go. I am letting this go..."::)
This all reinforces to me that I love the differences in culture and spelling and idiom; I would abhor a homogenized world (or a homogenized English). On the level of published works like Harry Potter (which I have not read), I'm totally against Americanization. Nobody Americanized or Twentieth-Centuried Jane Eyre or David Copperfield or Sherlock Holmes (thank god). I don't want writing to lose its flavor.
Fanfic -- I can't help but think that using the spelling that's used in the characters' country can only add to the feeling of authenticity for the characters. But it's a very small thing, and should totally be the author's choice. It's not going to keep me from loving a story. And fanfic is written for the fun and the love of writing it; I read it for the fun and love of reading it, and I'm not going to sabotage myself out of reading *anything* unless I don't care for the story itself or the writing overall as writing (not as spelling -- and even idiom, to some extent).
Too cool for subject
And that's what it's all about, isn't it? Here we have this awesome treasure at our fingertips; I probably couldn't read what's already at 852 and CL in my lifetime... and more is still being produced. And yet, some people aren't satisfied with the feast laid before them; they have to quibble because some dishes aren't "presented" in the manner to which they're accustomed. That really takes chutzpah.
.